Anti-GST rally: Pakatan, NGO leaders air grouses

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan leaders speaking at the anti-GST (Goods and Services Tax) rally labelled it a "regressive" and "unfair" taxation system that will burden the rakyat, particularly those from the lower-income group.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu said here on Thursday that the GST was an unfair tax system that would burden the lower-income group.

He claimed that the Government wanted to introduce GST because it could not solve the issue of corruption and leakages in public funds.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S. Arutchelvan, described the GST as a "regressive" tax.

"The (current) tax system is created in such a way that taxes are colleted from the rich and distributed to the poor, but with GST, we will see the poor being taxed as well.

"If we have free education, health care, and our wages increase from time to time, then GST is justified - but our subsidies are being cut and our wages are stagnant," he said.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail said that women would be hit the most if the GST is implemented.

"We do not want to trouble women and we must restore the power to the people," she said.

Former Bersih chairman Datuk S. Ambiga told the crowd that besides fighting against the implementation of GST, the public must also push for a clean and fair election.

"We must make sure that it will not go through," she said.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, told the crowd that it was necessary to clean up the Election Commission before Pakatan Rakyat could wrest control of Putrajaya.

"The people should continue to rise and demand a change of the political system," he said.

Meanwhile, Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad. Said the rally was effective in sending a strong message to the Government that the people were against GST.

"Many came... because this is a 'people issue' more than a political one," he said.